Beyond The Scarf Obsession - Dizziness and Vertigo

Well, by now I WOULD have been talking about colder weather and how to handle it, but Colorado has decided to act a little differently this year! The Indian summer has been incredible, but now that it's officially November, I'm 100% ready for the chillier temps. And ready for the wind to die down.

Last month, Karen talked about our obsession with scarves and how to protect yourself from the "external winds" if you have a tendency towards dizziness and vertigo. If that's working for you, keep it up! I want to cover a few other reasons dizziness/vertigo can manifest from a more internal standpoint.

Often in Chinese medicine, we think of conditions in two ways: the root and the branch. It's part of our job to determine whether your symptoms are the problem itself (the root) OR if its a trickle-down effect stemming from somewhere else (the branch). Vertigo can be a complicated condition and its not always clear to see where it's coming from. A lot of times it can be simple - you're getting dizzy because you're coming down with a cold, it's windy outside, etc etc. Other times, it can be a little more complicated and we have to take into consideration other reasons for the vertigo. For example: you have been fighting cold after cold this season, while working excessively at your job, you're exhausted, not eating well, your digestion is off and you are starting to get really angry about your situation and BOOM. It hits you. All of a sudden you wake up one morning and can't see straight because the dizziness is overwhelming. Obviously there are multiple things happening here. In our medicine we call these "excesses" and "deficiencies." Therefore, our treatment plan would be to nourish the immune system from the base up while clearing the energy that took the form of emotional blockage.

As I listed in the example above, emotions can play a big part in someone that experiences dizziness. Especially anger, depression, anxiety, or being overworked/overwhelmed. Good news: acupuncture is great for that. Also, if you're not treating your digestive tract nicely, that might be another contributing factor. I feel like a broken record when I say that the gut is the second brain, but I firmly believe that giving yourself food that your body can process will help you feel your best.

Finally, if you're a person that is habitually run-down, your immune system will need some work to get back to a healthy place. Choosing a "standard" or "works" appointment in any of these instances could be beneficial to your overall health care plan. That gives us the opportunity to go over possible dietary and lifestyle changes or spending that extra time to use some direct moxa or cupping (or both!) for energy boosting. Give it a try and see the difference a few slight changes can make!